Apparatus and method for simultaneously manufacturing brocades and pattern cards



2,083,960 EOUSLY MANUFACTURING BROCADES AND PATTERN CARDS June 15, 1937. K. NAKANISHI APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR SIMULTAN Filed Feb. 6, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet l w va K. NAKANISHI 2,033,960 APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY MANUFACTURING June 15, 1937.

BROCADES AND PATTERN CARDS Filed Feb. 6, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 2 0 T N f V w Patented June 15, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Kinsaku Nakanishi, Hakata, Fukuoka, Japan Application February 6, 1934, Serial No. 710,001 In Japan February 13, 1933 4 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in an apparatus for simultaneously manufacturing brocades and pattern cards, and has for its object the provision of means whereby any desired design of an original picture is woven into cloth by an electrically operated brocade loom and the pattern cards corresponding to the same design can be manufactured by means of the same original picture very quickly and easily.

It is well known that heretofore in order to manufacture brocade it was necessary to pass through the following process:--first, the preparation of an original picture; second, the design for texture corresponding to the required weaves; third, the cutting of cards; fourth, the joining together the pattern cards; and fifth, the weaving by means of a jacquard machine. In the above process, the first three steps would not be accomplished without thought and judgment on the part of the operator, so that brocades are very expensive owing to technical difiiculties, waste of time and expense.

According to this invention the operating parts of a pattern card cutting machine are associated with the warp acting parts of an electric brocade loom to be controlled photo-electrically so that a brocade may be woven directly according to an original design picture without using pattern cards and at the same time the pattern cards for the same design to be used for jacquard machines can be punched quickly and accurately by the operation connected with the weaving. Thus the simultaneous production of a brocade and its pattern cards may be accomplished without the operators thought and judgment and the above mentioned defects can be obviated.

; Moreover, this invention has another advantage that the electric brocade loom only can be operated in the case of small production, while many jacquard machines may also be operated by utilizing the pattern cards made by this invention in the case of mass production, or the brocade and the pattern cards can, of course, be manufactured at the same time as desired.

For a better understanding of this invention, reference is taken to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a diagrammatical representation of a machine for manufacturing simultaneously brocades and pattern cards, embodying this invention and Fig. 2 is a similar view showing a modified arrangement of this invention.

Referring to the drawings, l represents a drum on which an original picture is put. This drlnn is mounted on a shaft 2 driven at a desired speed.

5 3 is a light source; 4 is a condensing lens and 5 is a photoelectric tube. These elements are so arranged that the surface of the original picture is successively scanned by the spot light passing through the lens 4 to produce photo-electric currents corresponding to the shading of every scanning point. The output circuit of the photoelectric tube 5 is connected to a relay 1 through a suitable amplifier 6. The movable contact 8 and a fixed contact Ill are connected to the energizing coils of electromagnets (not shown) which operate the working parts l2 of an electrically controlled brocade loom respectively through a current source 9 and a switch ll. Each working part is connected to each harness l6 through connecting members consisting of a cord I3, a hook l4 and a hemp thread l5. N indicates a weight connected thereto. I8 is a drum around which the warp threads for weaving the cloth are wound and i9 and 20 indicate reed and shuttle respectively.

In accordance with this invention, controlling parts of a pattern card cutting machine are associated with the warp operating parts of an electrically controlled brocade loom as above described. The card cutting machine is provided with several punching rods 2| (three in number are shown in the drawings), the heads of which are different in length. These punching rods are loosely fitted into holes drilled through a punch-' ing die 23. The cover 24 of the punching die is also provided with the same number of transverse holes equal in number to those of punching rods 2|, through which controlling rods 25 are inserted loosely. Arranged between the flange 26 of the controlling rod 25 and a guide plate 21 is a biasing spring 28 which serves to project one end of the controlling rod 25 on top of the head of the punching rod 2!. 29 is a punching die having holes 30 which fit the punching rods 21 which are arranged to be lifted at each revolution of the drum I to punch a card 3i. Threads 33 passing over guide rods 32 are connected to the other ends of the controlling rods 25. Hanged to the other ends of the threads 33 are weights 34 which normally overcome the bias ofthe springs 28, thereby pulling the controlling rods 25 to the left so as not to act on the heads 22 of the punching rods 2|. Each weight 34 is connected to a warp operating part, for instance, hook I4 of the electrically controlled brocade loom through a thread 35.

The operation of the above described arrangement is as followsz-For simplicity, assuming that a design is drawn by black ink on a white paper which is the original picture put on thedrum I, and when the original picture is successively scanned, the relay 1 is maintained inoperative by a smaller amount of photo-electric current corresponding to the black points but actuated by a greater amount of photoelectric current corresponding to the white points to contact the movable contact 8 to the fixed contact III as shown in the drawings. Then, during the scanning motion in one revolution of the drum I only the operating parts corresponding to the white points are operated to lift selectively the corresponding hooks and warps associated therewith to the position shown by the dotted line, thus the shedding motion takes place. At this moment, the shuttle 20 with a weft thread is thrown through the shed between the warp, and the weft is beaten in the warp by the reed l3 so as to produce the brocade. At the sametime the weights 34 belonging to the lifted hooks l4 may also be lifted and the threads 33"b'ecome slack, causing the controlling rods 25 to project over the heads 22 of the punching rods 21 by the spring 28. But the controlling rod 25 associated with the hooks l4 which are not lifted will-be held at the original positions by means of the weight 34. Accordingly, after the scanning motion in one revolution of the drum I, that is, at the same time when one weft is woven in the brocade by throwing the shuttle 20, the punching die 29 is lifted. Then the punching rods 2| corresponding to the controlling rods 25 which are at the operative positions can punch the card 20. as their heads are restrained by the controlling rods 25, but the other punching rods may be pushed up by the card itself without punching it. Therefore the card 3| can be punched at the points corresponding to the design of the original picture only. Thus it will be clear that the design of the original picture is directly woven into the brocade and at the same time the pattern cards corresponding thereto can be manufactured. If desired, either the brocade loom or card cutting machine can be maintained inoperative.

In the modified arrangement shown in Fig. 2, the relay 1 in Fig. l is omitted and the output circuit of the amplifier 6 is directly connected to the operating parts l2, or the operating electromagnetic device of the electric brocade loom. Attached to the controlling rod 25 is transverse rod .36 which extends through the ring of a hooked rod 31, and the free end of the transverse rod 36 is arranged to be controlled by a shifter 38. A smaller weight 44 is hanged from the lower end of each hooked rod 31, the upper end of which is connected to a larger weight 34 through a thread 4| passing over guide rods 39 and 40. The latter weight 34 is connected to the hook l4 through a thread 43 passing over the guide rod 42. The other arrangement is the same as that described in Fig. 1.

The operation of the arrangement shown in Fig. 2 is substantially equal to that of Fig. 1. When the weights 34 are lifted due to the rise of the selected hooks l4, the threads 4| become slack and the weights 44 pull the hooked rods 31 downward to engage the end of the corresponding transverse rods 36 on the shifter 38. After the scanning operation in one complete revolution of the drum l is over, the shifter 38 is moved to the right to the position shown in the drawings, the transverse rods 36 riding on the shifter 33 and consequently the corresponding controlling rods 25 will compress the springs 28 to project their ends over the heads 22 of the punching rods 2|. As the card 3| is punched by the corresponding punching rods, the object of this invention will be equally attained as described in connection with Fig. 1.

As described above according to this invention, a desired design is woven into cloth directly from the original picture such as handwriting, print-' ed matter, photographs, designs and the like, and at the same time the corresponding pattern cards can be produced directly from the same original picture by connecting the punching rods and the controlling rods of a pattern card cutting machine to an electrically controlled brocade loom. Therefore this invention has the advantage that the efflciency of manufacturing brocades and pattern cards can be increased considerably without thought and Judgment on the part of the operator. Moreover, it will be understood that the object of this invention may equally be attained by employing a suitable electrically controlled brocade loom having means of photo-electrical control as described above or a brocade loom controlled by electrically conductive and non-conductive sections as in a photogravure.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:--

1. An apparatus for simultaneously manufacturing brocades and pattern cards, comprising photo-electric means, an electrically controlled brocade loom, a plurality of warp operating parts each holding a warp thread, means for actuating said warp operating parts in response to the operation of said photo-electric means, a pattern card cutting machine having a. number of punching rods and a cooperating die, a plurality of controlling rods for selectively controlling said punching rods, and means for connecting said controlling rods to said warp operating parts thereby recording the selection of warp threads in said electrically controlled brocade loom by means of the punching rods in said card cutting machine.

2. An apparatus for simultaneously manufacturing brocades and pattern cards, comprising photo-electric means, a photo-electrically controlled brocade loom, a plurality of harnesses each holding a warp thread, a plurality of harness cords connecting said harnesses to the operating parts of said photo-electric means, a pattern card cutting machine having a plurality of punching rods arranged in several rows and a cooperating die having holes corresponding to each of said punching rods, a plurality of controlling rods arranged to be shifted by springs to hold said punching rods in position in a fixed die for selectively controlling said punching rods, a plurality of cords for connecting said controlling rods to said harnesses, a plurality of guide rods for guiding said cords, and a plurality of counter weights suspended from said cords over said guide rods whereby actuation of said harnesses causes the simultaneous actuation of said punching rods.

3. An apparatus for simultaneously manufacturing brocades of warp and weft threads and pattern cards, comprising photo-electric means having a photo-electric current generating device, a scanning device for an original design picture and electro-magnets operated by the photo-electric current to selectively control the warp threads corresponding to the original picture elements, a brocade loom, a plurality of harnesses holding the warp threads, a plurality of harness cords connecting said harnesses to the operating parts of said electro-magnets, a 75 card cutting machine consisting of a stationary die having a. plurality of punching rods in several rows, a plurality of controlling rods normally held at the inoperative position by means of springs in said stationary die for controlling said punching rods, a movable die having holes to receive said punching rods, a plurality of transverse rods hinged to said controlling rods for acting thereupon, a shifting device for projecting the selected transverse rods, a plurality of hooked rods each engaging one of said transverse rods for controlling said transverse rods, a plurality of dead weights suspended from the lower ends of said hooked rods for holding them at the operative position, a plurality of cords for connecting said hooked rods to said harnesses, a plurality of guide rods for guiding said cords and a plurality of counter-weights connected to said cords for holding said transverse rods at the inoperative position by overcoming said dead weights, thereby selectively operating the controlling rods corresponding to the selection of the warp threads.

4. A method of simultaneously manufacturing brocades and a pattern card record of the operations of the controlling means of said manufacture which consists in controlling the operations of the loom by photo-electric means and punching pattern cards under the same control and hence in complete correspondence with the operations of said loom.

KINSAKU NAKANISHI. 

